Ethics in the College-Level Business Classroom: A Tripartite Examination.

DuFrene, Debbie D.; And Others

This paper discusses the need for Ethics instruction in college business curricula and presents study results in determining the issues to include in such instruction. Ratings of potential ethical issues were obtained from three cohorts (business faculty, business practitioners, and business students) using the Ethical Issues Rating Scale developed by the researchers. The instrument's construct validity was established using a series of R-technique principal components factor analyses. The instrument was then substantively used to determine the degree to which the various ethical issues were deemed as important across the three subject cohorts. Respondents in the three cohorts were also surveyed as to their perceptions of the ethical awareness and ethical standards of present business students as compared to past business students, students nationwide, and business people in the local community. Among survey results were that the most important issues identified by all three cohorts involved environmental, employee and consumer, and personal integrity; and that, among those issues identified as of little importance, were those involving international matters. The appendix contains the full text of items on the Issues Rating Scale. Contains 13 references. (GLR)